Mast, pole, and the like



Oct. 29, 1946.

w. c. SCRIVENER 1- AL 2,410,246

MAST, POLE, AND THE LIKE Original Filed April. 17; 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet l Inventors.

(ll MC Attorney 5 I Oct. 29, 1946. v v. c. SCRIVENER YET AL 2,410,246

MAST, POLE, AND THE LIKE Original Filed A ril 117, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet? In ventors A ltorneyfi 1 w. c. SCRIVENER ET AL 2,410,246

' MAST; P'OLE, AND THE LIKE 4 Original Filed April 17, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 A ltorney Patented Oct. 29, 1946 William Charles Scriv ener and Alfred George Brewer, Sutton Coldfield, England, assignorsv to Masts Limited, Birmingham, England, a British comp any Original application April 17, 1943, Serial No. d this application October 483,508. Divided an 3, 1944,- Serial No. 556,

June 22, 1942 4 Claims.

978. In Great Britain The present application is a division of our copending application Serial No. 483,508, filed April 17, 1943, and entitled Masts, poles, and the like?- This invention is for masts and has for its object the provision of a mast which is capable of bing manufactured by mass production, is quickly assembled and easily erected by the minimum number of personnel, and is capable of being broken down into a small number of parts which are easily transported owing to the length of the longest unit being short in comparison with the size of the mast that can be erected therefrom.

According to the present invention there is provided a mast of the type specified built up of a series of rigid members linked together by a union or unions constructed and arranged so that the members are held against unintentional displacement relatively to one another in a longitudinal direction and form an articulated unit which when arranged upright constitutes in conjunction with'guys operatively connected to the said members, a flexible mast capable of sustaining a heavy vertical crushing load.

Again according to the present invention, there is provided a mast of the type specified built up of a series of rigid tubular members each of which tapers substantially from a point along its length towards both ends thereof, each pair of adjacent members being connected together by a union constructed and arranged so that the members are held against unintentional displacement relatively to one another in a longitudinal direction and form an. articulated unit which when arranged upright forms in conjunction with guys operatively connected to said members, a flexible mast which although comparatively light, is capable of sustaining a heavy vertical crushing load. .The invention willbe more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 illustrates one particular form of member of amast constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 illustrates the sections of half of the member illustrated in Figure 1 nested one within the other, for the purpose of easy storage and simple transportation;

Figure 3 illustrates a mast constructed in accordance with the present invention;

' Figures 4 and 5 illustrates in plan and elevation one method of forming an articulated joint between adjacent sections of a mast constructed in accordance with the present invention; and

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate a modified form of connecting the guyropes to the masts.-

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is illustrated by way of example only a member which when employed in conjunction with other members in a manner hereinafter described forms a-mast. The said member is built up of two sets of tapering sections I, 2 and a centre spigot section 3 all formed of thin sheet metal and adapted to fit one over the other to form a member which tapers substantially from its midlength towards both ends thereof. Such members can be so constructed as to be rigid, extremely strong and at the same time comparatively light. The individual sections I, 2 and 3 are so shaped that they are capable of being assembled in the manner indicated in Figure 1 with the larger end of one section in engagement with the smaller end of the next adjacent section so that the end of one section fits within the end of the other section to form the rigid substantially cigar-shaped member illustrated in Figure 1. Owing to their shape the sections 1 and 2 are also capable, when separated from one another, of being arranged so that one set of sections forming, for example, one-half of each member, nest one within the other in the manner indicated in Figure 2 to form a batch of tubular sections, the overall length of whichis not substantially greater than the length of the longest section of the batch. By such a construction even a comparatively large number of such members require only the minimum amount of storage space and in addition are capable of being-easily transported in small vehicles from one place to another. For this reason it is found that a very efficient member may be formed from such a construction, which when employed in a series suitably connected together forms a very strong and yet yieldable mast which has all the advantages of the individual members.

Figure 3 of the accompanying "drawings shows a series of members of the above character built up into a mast but it is to be understoodthat in the invention hereinafter described with reference to a construction of mast formed as an articulated unit the members need not of necessity be constructed of any particular shape or design and it is to be understood that where reference is hereinafter made in the construction of masts to members which are formed into an ar ticulated unit built up of rigid members, the said members may be of any desired shape or configuration, for example they may be of a latticework structure; without in any way departing from the spirit of the present invention, although it will be appreciated that the tubular members hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 are considered preferable and have distinct advantages.

It is to be appreciated that the principle underlying the construction of masts made in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in Figure 3 and consists in building up a series of rigid members, for example 4,. 5 and 6, into an articulated unit which does'notpossess in itself suflicient axial rigidity to enable the members 4, 5 and 6 when placed end to end to stand upright but which, when each member is aided by four guy ropes or the like 4 or 5 or fi 'operatively connected to the corresponding member,- provides a flexible mast having substantial vertical rigidity.

In order to achieve the above effect, adjacent members of the mast are connected together so as to permit a certain degree-of articulation in the neighbourhood of the joint that unites them.

Referring to Figures land 5, there is illustrated a suitable joint for use between adjacent mem bers of a light mast. The joint comprises a flange I having radially directed open slots 8 (Figure 4) formed in the periphery thereof at predetermined distances around the circumference. A flange I is provided upon the end of each member, for example'by being formed upon a spigot 9 arranged to extend into a socket formed in the end of a member. By such a construction each member is uniformly formed at each end thereof with a flange I provided with a series of radially directed slots 3. When it'is desired to connect together two members 4 and 5, the ends are brought into close proximity with one another and there is introduced between the flanges of adjacent members 4 and 5 a plate It) provided with lugs I I on either side thereof which are arranged in planes perpendicular to the plane of the-plate Ill. The lugs I I are spaced around the plate I-and from the axis thereof at distances corresponding to the distances between the slots 8 formed-in the flanges l and thedistances of the slots 8 from the axis of each memher. The lugs II on the plate I0 are shaped so that they-are provided with portions I2'which overhang the plate and are directed towards the axis of the plate. The plate Iiiis so constructed that when placed between the flanges l on the ends of two adjacent members 4 and the flanges 1 upon the respective members may be disposed so that the slots 8 correspond with the lugs I I on the plate In whereby an axial movement of the two members 4 and 5 towards one another brings the flanges I of the members 4 and 5 into contact with opposite sides of the plate ill in the manner indicated in Figure 5, whereupon the members 4 and 5-m'ay be given a part turn about their axes so as to bring the unslotted portion of the flanges I beneath the overhang ing portion I2 of the lugs I I, thereby locking each member to the plate Ili and to one another, thus preventing the two members 4 and 5' from being unintentionally separated from one another in a longitudinal direction. There is provided upon the plate I il a hole arranged to receive a split pin I3 which is preferably attached to the'plate IIlby means oi'a'chain I4. The pin I3 can be inserted into the hole in' the plate IEl-"so as to ex tend through two adjacent slots 8 formed in the pair of flanges 'I' of the two members'4 and 5 and in such a position prevents the members 4 and 5 from rotating relatively to the plate I0 sufficiently to bring the slots 8 of the flanges 1 adjacent to the lugs II on the plate Ill and thus allow the members 4 and 5 to become unintentionally disconnected.

It will be appreciated. that the plates Ill which are arranged to extend between the adjacent members are uniform in character and therefore interchangeable as also is the case with the flanged spigots 9' which extend into the ends of the members.

If a series of members is connected together in the manner indicated above, it will be found that an articulated unit is formed in which the successive members are held together longitudinally, but wherein there exists suflicient play in the joints between adjacent members to prevent the members from being arranged one above the other in an upright direction Without some form of lateral support which maintains all the members coaxial with one another.

The construction hereinbefore referred to with reference to Figures 4 and 5 provides a union for connecting together a pair 4 and 5 of adjacent rigid members of an articulated unit which when arranged upright in the manner illustrated in Figure 3, forms, in conjunction with guys 4 5 and 6 operatively connected to the members 4, 5 and 5, a flexible mast which comprises means in the form of flanges I and a plate In having lugs I I disposed between adjacent members 4 and 5 and 5 and 6, which permits of a range of movement in all directions between adjacent members.

One method of connecting the guys 4*, 5 and 5 to the members 4, 5 and 6 consists in preferably forming an extension of each of the lower lugs I2 of the plate in the shape of a hook IE to which the loop I6 of each guy rope is securable so asto hold the adjacent ends of two members 4 and 5 in a predetermined position. Thus it will be seen that by providing guys at the joint where adjacent members are connected together, it is possible to'arrange successive members so as to extend vertically from the ground with the axes of the members in alignment with one another in the manner indicated in Figure 3.

The guy ropes'are provided at their ends with rings 4I (Figure 4) which hook over the hooks I5 securedto the underside of the plates I0.

t will be observedthat with the mast hereinfore described the members, which are preferably tubular, are built up of sections which are standard in their form and easily broken down into short lengths, the spigots provided with flanges are interchangeable and the plates which form the joint between adjacent pairs of flanged spigots are standard in size and shape, thus providing amast' in which corresponding: parts are interchangeable and most of the units are con- 1structed so that small parts thereof cannot be An alternative construction of securing the guys to the union between adjacent members is illustrated in Figures 6 and '7. This'construction consists in forming closed slots 44 in-the plate 45 (Figure 7) which are arranged to receive lugs 45permanently attached to the ends of the guy ropes- 4? so that when the lugs 45 are arranged to extend through the closed slots 44 in the plate 45and through the open slots48 in the flanged spigots 49' and the members to which the spigots' are connected are given a part turn about the longitudinal axes thereof, the lugs 46 are locked to the union and serve to connect the ends of adjacent m'ern'bers'll and5 together. The plate 45 is prevented from moving and allowing its slots to come into line with the open slots 48 in the flanged member 49 by a split pin 50 (Figure '7).

Thus it will be seen that according to the present invention there is provided a mast which 7 is simple in its construction, easy simple to maintain necessary are small tremely simple.

and their manipulation exto erect and because the number of parts What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the bination of a plurality of rigid sections arranged in axial alinement, each of said sections having a flange at opposite ends thereof; a, plate positioned between the flanged ends of each of said sections when said plurality of sections are arranged in axial alinement; lugs associated with each of theplates and extending on opposite sides thereof, said lugs cooperating with the adjacent flanges of adjacent sections to secure said sections together; and guys attached to the lugs United States is: 1. In a resilient mast, pole or the like, the comand extending between said lugs and the ground or base on which said mast, pole or the like is mounted.

2. In a sectional mast, pole or the like as defined in claim 1, wherein'the lugs are fixed on the plate and are provided with hooked portions to which the upper end of a guy is attached.

3. In a sectional mast, pole or the like as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said plates is provided with a plurality of radial slots, and 

